#FOGWASTE: Participatory urbanism towards place-understanding

Authors

  • Nina Claire Napawan Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture + Environmental Design Department of Human Ecology University of California, Davis
  • Brett Snyder Assistant Professor, Department of Design University of California Davis Principal, Cheng+Snyder

Abstract

Participatory urbanism is on the rise in communities struggling to develop quality public spaces in constrained environments. In light of the growing practice of community-based strategies to shape urban place-making, this paper argues for an increased role of community engagement in urban place-understanding. It presents the work of feminist environmental artists of the 1970s as a precedent for participatory approaches towards infrastructure awareness and environmental stewardship, and discusses opportunities for expanding the impact of their approach through digital media integration. Lastly, the paper concludes with a contemporary case-study as an engaged model for improving urban systems function. The case study presented represents a collaboration between the authors and the City of San Jose to engage pilot communities with a greater understanding of the connections between household practices of waste water management and urban sustainability.

Keywords: participatory urbanism, community engagement, environmental art, urban infrastructure, social media, urban sustainability.

Author Biographies

Nina Claire Napawan, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture + Environmental Design Department of Human Ecology University of California, Davis

N. Claire Napawan is an Assistant Professor within the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California Davis. Her research focuses on the investigation of urban public landscapes and their role in supporting community resilience. She has practiced professionally with award-winning design firms, including the SWA Group in San Francisco and dlandstudio, llc. in Brooklyn. Her recent speculative design work includes landscape design for climate change resilience, including the Hellman Fellowship funded design study of San Francisco’s Eastern Shore and the winning proposal for the 2013 NYC Reinventing Payphones competition, Smart Sidewalks.

Brett Snyder, Assistant Professor, Department of Design University of California Davis Principal, Cheng+Snyder

Brett Snyder, AIA is a principal of Cheng+Snyder and an Assistant Professor of Design at the University of California, Davis. Snyder works at and researches the intersection of architecture, media, and graphics with a particular interest in urban spaces. Recent projects include Smart Sidewalks, a winning entry to the NYC Reinvent Payphones competition, Museum of the Phantom City an architectural iPhone app to view visionary but un-built architecture, and S.Alt City an interactive building mural in Syracuse, New York. Snyder’s award winning work has been exhibited internationally including the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and SXSW.

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Published

2016-06-15

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2016): May/Aug

Section

Special Issue: Exploring Participatory Design as a Strategy to Act within the City

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